Cutbacks and the Poor

[Donnachaidh]

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/episodes/august-13-2010/cutbac%20ks-and-the-poor/6782/?utm_source=Facebook&utm_medium=fanpage&utm_campaign=pbs


AIDA REYES: We always are looking for a scapegoat in regards to what the budget crisis is.

LUCKY SEVERSON, correspondent: Aida Reyes has a master’s degree but volunteers all her time for a low-income parental support program called SPIN, enjoying this church-sponsored picnic in a San Diego park.

REYES: And who else is the easiest scapegoat than the poor people, the people who’ve always is never heard.

SEVERSON: California has been hit hard by the ailing economy. Over a million jobs have been lost since 2007. Even San Diego, advertised as America’s finest city, has seen the numbers of those living in poverty increase to over 300,000. Joni Halpern is a lawyer who founded SPIN.

JONI HALPERN: So I see more homeless, people who’ve never been poor before, I see those now. People who’ve lost houses, jobs, cars; people who have never ever expected that they’d be on public assistance. I see those now, too.

SEVERSON: Even as welfare rolls are increasing, San Diego, like local governments everywhere, has been forced to cut programs for those in need, like those at this picnic, programs like child welfare. Advocates for the poor say it is even more difficult in San Diego because of the county’s unusual and controversial program created to police welfare fraud. It’s called Project 100 Percent, and it’s extremely unusual because it stipulates that a fraud investigator will visit unannounced anyone applying for welfare or cash assistance. Critics say it treats those in need, like some of the people here, as criminals. County officials say it’s an ethical way to save taxpayers money.


More and a video at the link ---

[BeFree]

1. well

The bankers ran off with the easy money. Leaving scraps for the rest of us.

And how many bankers have been drug tested? When will the bad bankers be labeled as criminals by the fraud investigators?

[Obamanaut]

2. Was congress somehow involved in donating all that money to the

bankers?

And yet, even though we are upset with the way a lot of this played out, we will still reelect most of the ones who seek it.

It's the same bunch that keeps voting (donating) money to the 'war' effort.

[sad sally]

3. Yeah, and last week when the 27Billion bill to States to save teachers

jobs was signed, very little was said about the cut to food stamps that helped pay for it. Don't get me wrong, I want the teachers to get paid, but what about making sure the kids (and their parents) have enough to eat? It's nice the First Lady is concerned about childhood obesity, but how about some concern for poor kids without backyard gardens or a safe place to sleep?

[Donnachaidh]

4. they could have taken that 27 BILLION from the Pentagon

Saving teachers is fine, but those families going without to do so? It's f*cking OBSCENE. And our media is just as complicit in this THEFT from those who cannot fight back!

[sad sally]

5. I couldn't have said it better.

Henry the Fourth said: "I want there to be no peasant in my kingdom so poor that he is unable to have a chicken in his pot every Sunday." Know of any good kings willing to help the peasants?

[inna]

8. You probably won't believe it, but cutting from food stamps was actually

the Administration's idea.

[Obamanaut]

7. The 'cut' to food stamps isn't effective for several years, and even then

it will revert to the pre-stimulus level.

There is time to change that later if need be.

[Donnachaidh]

9. yeah, like the *fix* they claim they will do to that obscene healthcare reform?

Uh huh, yeah. I believe it'll be fixed. :sarcasm:

Of course, by that time, the promisers may very well be out of office. Then what?

[ThomCat]

6. Unfortunately, bankers control who can run for congress

and who gets elected. So they control who will replace the current frauds in office. It doesn't matter if we run the current bums out of office.

Though, I think we should do it to many of them anyway just to send the message. x(

I agree that members of congress and the senate should be drug tested. They should all be audited publicly too.

It would also be nice if corporations were not considered people, so that they did not have the free speech rights guaranteed to all people in the first amendment. That would solve a whole lot of the problems we've been having.